Of the many gardens going in these spring weekends, this one is a standout. Designed and planted with the help of RWU students for the benefit of the residents of Benjamin Church Manor, the Tom’s Grove Memorial Garden is an organic vegetable and flower garden complete with a sitting area for quiet reflection.

The garden is named for the late Thomas Andrade, who served as a maintenance mechanic for the Bristol Housing Authority for many years before his death in 2016. According to Linda Heroux of Benjamin Church Manor, who has been spearheading the project with fellow resident Rick Hunter, before Andrade became ill, he took it upon himself to clear the land where the garden is located, which eventually became known as Friends of Tom’s Grove.

The garden began with a Town of Bristol-RWU Fund for Civic Activities grant to get it off the ground, then the RWU Community Partnerships Center (CPC) picked up the effort to help design, fundraise and get it planted. Students created the architectural renderings and the fundraising materials to help the Benjamin Church Manor community raise more money for plants and benches.

The CPC student team helped further clear the land and built several garden boxes (others were built by volunteers from the Herreshoff Marine Museum), and arranged for athletic teams to do much of the heavy lifting: the RWU swimming and diving team sent about 30 student-athletes to do a major site clearing last month, and on Saturday, April 29, the RWU soccer team was on site to lay mulch and gravel and do the planting.

Andre Caceres, a soccer player and member of the CPC Community Engagement Marketing Team got involved because he wanted a work-study job that could provide some hands on marketing experience while doing something more for the community. It’s the first CPC project for the junior marketing and communications major from Ossining, NY.

“I’m excited to see the finished product,” he said.

Alan Hance is RWU’s Associate Provost for Global and Community Engagement, so is involved in both the Fund for Civic Engagement that partly financed the garden, as well as the CPC that put together the team of contributing students. According to Hance, this project is a great example of the kind of proposals that the Fund for Civic Engagement loves to see.

“We want to encourage grant applications that think of ways to engage Roger Williams students in the proposed work,” Hance said.

“Those students were treasures immeasurable,” said Heroux. “I can’t tell you what an enormous help they were. They came in droves, took charge, and did everything that needed to be done.

“And they made us and each other laugh. They were so much fun. I could not have asked for better help.”

Project coordinators could use more help from the community, and would particularly appreciate in-kind donations to help them finish this effort, which includes plans to build a gazebo or pergola in the next phase. Anyone interested in getting involved with the effort is encouraged to contact Heroux at 401-317-0279.